There were the Scots
Who kept the Sabbath
And everything else they
could lay their hands on

Then there were the Welsh
Who prayed on their knees
And their neighbors

Thirdly, there were the
Irish
Who never knew what they wanted
But were willing to fight for it anyway.

Lastly, there were the
English
Who considered themselves a self-made nation
Thus, relieving the Almighty of a dreadful
responsibility.

My branch of the Hitchcocks
descends from Mathias Hitchcock and his wife Elizabeth
Nichols through their son John. Mathias Hitchcock was
among Rev. John Davenports Congregation in London.
He lived in the neighborhood of Coleman Street in London.
Mathias sailed first with Sir Richard Saltonstall, a
strong supporter of the church, in 1635 on the ship SUSAN
& ELLEN. Mathias apparently returned to England as
there is another record of Mathias sailing on the ship
HECTOR that brought John Davenport's party to America in
1637 arriving at Boston, Massachusetts. Among the
passengers on the HECTOR were several other families who
married into the Hitchcock family later on.

Subsequent generations of
the Hitchcock family migrated up the Connecticut River
Valley and eventually settled western New York until my
grandfather, Hubert Heaton Hitchcock left Syracuse for
Utah in 1911.

Mathias's first property was
in Watertown, Massachusetts,where he received 23 acres in
the "Great Dividends." He then moved south, as much of
the group moved away either into Long Island, New York,
area or into Connecticut.

In 1639 Mathias is listed
among the signers of the "foundamental agreement" of New
Haven, Connecticut. He was among five purchasers of the
"South End Neck" where he and his family continued to
live until after 1651. It is not known how or when
Mathias met Elizabeth Nichols but they did come to
America together in 1635. I suspect they were part of the
St. Stephens congregation on Coleman Street in London and
certainly sympathizers to the Puritan movement if not
active members.

Elizabeth and Mathias
married before 1643 as Mathias is listed with three
persons in his family in the New Haven town

The Nichols family were ship
builders and sponsored emigrants to the New World.
Elizabeth's nephews family settled Rhode Island records.

Mathias and Elizabeth
Hitchcocks son, John Hitchcock, married Abigail
Merriman. Abigail was the daughter of Nathaniel Merriman
and Joan or Abigail Olney. Nathaniel was a cooper from
London who came to America on the ship the WHALE. He was
an
indentured servant in 1649. The Merriman family
originated in Oxford, England.

John and Abigail moved to
Cheshire, Connecticut about 1676.

The Hitchcock migration
westward began when John and Abigail Hitchcock moved up
the Connecticut River and settled in Wallingford,
Connecticut. Their son, John Hitchcock, Jr., married
Elizabeth Chatterton, daughter of William and Mary
(Clark) Chatterton. T he Chattertons immigrated to
America in the
1630s and resided in Cheshire, Connecticut.

There is mention among some
researchers John and Elizabeth resided in Canada for some
time. John and Elizabeths son Amos Hitchcock,
married Sybil Tuttle, daughter of Moses Tuttle and Sybil
Thomas. Amos served in the Revolutionary War.

The Tuttle family descends
from William Tuttle who married Elizabeth Mathews. They
immigrated on the ship the Planter in 1635. William had
his hands full with his children. His daughter,
Elizabeth, was accused of adultery. Another daughter
Mercy killed her seventeen-year-old son. His son Benjamin
killed his sister, Sarah. He was executed. Aaron Burr is
also a descendant of William Tuttle.

The Dewey family immigrated
to America from Sandwich, England, and settled at
Windsor, Connecticut, before moving to western
Massachusetts where Pauls father, Israel Dewey, was
one of the prominent settlers. He established a lumber
mill business that led to a successful business.

Betsy was widowed in 1803.
She remarried Pierce and moved to Illinois. Her son John
Cortland Hitchcock remained in New York where he married
Demaris Graves. They resided in Otisco, New York. Demaris
was the daughter of Lucius and Clarissa (Hickox) Graves.

The Graves family descends
from Thomas Graves who was a respected engineer. His
services were contracted by the New England Company to
help build the community in the New World. He apparently
had traveled extensively throughout Europe prior to
immigrating to America. Thomas was from Gravesend, co.
Kent, England, and came to America with Gov. Endicott's
Company on the GEORGE BONAVENTURE, which arrived in
Salem, Massachusetts in 1629.

Thomas Graves was a member
of the Council, on the committee to lay out the town of
Woburn, Massachusetts, and one of the first town officers
of Woburn. His wife, Sarah Whiting, and their five grown
children and two servants came with him. The family moved
to New Haven, Connecticut, first, then Hartford. He was
one of the founders of Hadley, Massachusetts in 1645. He
was well past his seventy-sixth birthday at this point.

The Hickox family traces
back to William Hickox who emigrated from
Stratford-on-Avon, England. Wild Bill Hickox
is among his descendants.

John Cortland and Demaris
Hitchcocks son James Bostwick Hitchcock, married
Katherine Heaton of Canton, New York. Katherine was the
daughter of Elhanan Winchester Heaton and Mary Eliza
Boyden.

The Heatons were a
prosperous western New York family having settled there
in the early 1800s.The family was among the first
settlers of Swanzey, New Hampshire. The first immigrant
was Nathaniel Heaton who married Elizabeth Philips in
London,1622. They immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in
the 1630s. From Boston the family moved westward.
Their son, James, married Eleoni Hawes. They resided at
Wrentham, Massachusetts.

Their son, James Heaton,
married Abigail Rice. James and Abigail moved to Swanzey,
New Hampshire, where they were among the early settlers.
The area was hard to settle due to harsh winters and
Indian conflicts. James died at the age of thirty-four.
Abigail was left with four young children under the age
of ten years. She returned to her parents, Moses and
Sarah (King) Rice, who were residing in Charlemont,
Massachusetts. Her father was killed two years later by
Indians. Abigail and her mother were left to attend to
the farm and family. Her son, James, returned to Swanzey,
to carry out his fathers dream of settling that
area.

From Swanzey, New Hampshire,
the Heaton family moved to Shilburne, Massachusetts.
James Heaton served two terms in the Revolutionary War,
serving at the Battle of Ticondergoga, 1777. James and
his wife, Susannah Grimes, were in Buckland,
Massachusetts in 1784 before moving to Waitsfield in
1793. In 1800 the family moved to western New York.

Susannah was the daughter of
William Grimes who immigrated from England. It was
admiringly noted that she could walk upstairs,
carrying a sixty pound tub of butter under each arm,
a
valuable accomplishment in a new country.

James and Susannah's son,
John Heaton, became a successful farmer in Canton, New
York. He was also known for his outspokenness on being a
Democrat in a predominantly Republican community.

The family continued to live
on the farm for over 100 yrs. After John died his
brother, Elhanen Winchester Heaton, managed the farm. The
farm eventually became part of what is now known as
Heaton Hill.

Another descendant, Allen
James Treadway, grandson of James and Susannah Heaton,
became a US senator and owner of the
Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

James and Katherine
Hitchcocks son, Hubert Heaton Hitchcock, left New
York in 1911 to go west to work as a civil engineer in
the building of the railroads. He met his wife, Marie
Antoinette West, in Salt Lake City.

The West family traces back
to Harford/Baltimore county, Maryland, where the first
progenitor, Robert West, resided on property that is now
where the Mason-Dixon line runs.

Robert West came to America
from England at the age of eight years. He arrived at
Baltimore, Maryland, and was among the first settlers
along the Susquehanna and Hundred Run Rivers. This area
eventually became Harford County. There is a well-known
ford on the Susquehanna River where a ferry was located
at Bald Friar. This is on what was Robert Wests
plantation known as Maidens Mount. In
the early 1700s there was a dispute between
Maryland and Pennsylvania over the boundary line. Minutes
of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania record on
August 18, 1723, Governor Reith of Pennsylvania said,
I intend to be upon the plantation of Robert West
called Maidens Mount in Baltimore County, commonly
known as Bald Friar on Monday, September 9, in order to
take observations. Whether the meeting took place
is not known. This dividing line was later known as the
Mason and Dixon Line.

Roberts son Jonathan
West married Eleanor Allender. The Allender is also an
early name in Harford County. Their son, James Benjamin
West moved to South Carolina where he married Sarah
Brashear.

Sarah's parents are not
known but there is good speculation she was the daughter
of William Brashear. A William Basher/Brashier was in
Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1699 when he was taxed on
property on the north side of Gunpowder Hundred River. It
is likely these people moved to the Carolinas together.
It may have been through the influence of the Quakers and
Methodists that inspired them to move southward.

The Brashear family was
among the French Huguenots who were persecuted by the
Catholic Church in France. The Brashear family joined the
migration to America in the 1700s and settled in
the mid-Atlantic region of Maryland and southward into
the Carolinas.

The West family was in South
Carolina where Isaac West, son of James Benjamin and
Sarah (Brashear) West was born in Greenville County.
Issac went to Kentucky where he married Patsey Meeks
whose family also came from South Carolina. Patsey was
the daughter of Priddy Meeks. Priddy and his sister,
Sarah Meeks and her husband, Paul Meachum were involved
in transporting and freeing slaves from the Carolinas to
Indiana in the early 1800s.

The Meeks family traces back
to William Meeks of co. Westmoreland, England, who
immigrated to Hanover County,Virginia. The family is
recorded on the tax list at Middle Plantation , Virginia
in 1646.8 Pride Meeks, son of William and Molly (Nolan)
Meeks, married Elizabeth Denny.

The Denny family migrated
from Albemarle County, Virginia. Samuel Denny, the first
immigrant migrated to Surry County, North Carolina, where
he settled on Hill Farm on Arrat River at the mouth of
Pilot Creek. He married Elizabeth Sudderth by whom he had
fourteen children one of which was Elizabeth. After his
wife died Samuel apparently went to Kentucky and Ohio
with his
family when he was quite old as he is buried in Gallia
County, Ohio.

Patsey Meeks-West was
widowed after two years of marriage and left with an
infant son, William Shelton West. She remarried two
times, only to again be widowed and left with 12
stepchildren and 4 of her own. She went to Shawneetown,
Illinois, and then on
to Missouri where she spent her remaining years as a
recluse on her sons property in Westville, Chariton
County, Missouri.

William Shelton West went to
Missouri where he was practicing medicine under Dr. Posey
of Shawneetown. There he married Lucretia McGuire,
daughter of William McGuire, a state senator of Missouri.
William McGuires family came from Virginia and
migrated to Missouri through Kentucky. His great
grandfather, James McGuire was an Indian spy and was
killed at the Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky.

William and Lucretia
Wests son, Silas Wright West, was a man of
adventure. At the age of sixteen he left Missouri in the
middle of the night after witnessing a murder in a late
night fight in the bunk house where he was sleeping and
headed for Montana with a cattle run. He then went to
Utah where he fell in love with the country in the
southern part of the state. He became a successful
businessman in mercantiling, sheep raising, and iron
prospecting. He made and lost a couple of fortunes. One
of his adventures took him to Mexico where he escaped
with barely his life, leaving his money with a partner
who was never found. Another adventure took him to the
Philippines and he made plans to take his family to
Hawaii. His wife had other plans. So he returned to Utah
and eventually moved the family to San Francisco about
the time of the earthquake in hopes of selling bricks to
help build the city following the devastation. That did
not work out too successfully due to the competition.

Silas married Marie
Antoinette Haight, daughter of Isaac Chauncy and Eliza
Ann (Price) Haight. Isaac was the first Stake President
for the LDS at Cedar City, Utah. He had been among Joseph
Smiths first converts in Dutchess County, New York.
He found himself in a bit of trouble when following
Brigham Youngs orders to attack a wagon train of
Gentiles coming through his territory
backfired on him. He was wanted by the United States
government for his involvement in the murder of 150 women
and children. Having been abandoned by the LDS Church he
went to Arizona Territory where he died in exile.

Isaacs wife, Eliza Ann
Price, was from London, England, where she met her future
husband at a revival meeting where Isaac was
recruiting for the LDS Church. He proposed to her and
brought her to America via New Orleans. It was not until
she was enroute on a wagon train to Salt Lake City when
she learned he had other wives in America. Her
daughters memoirs state she was too embarrassed to
tell her family in England she had been
hoodwinked so she remained with Isaac and
raised a family of ten children.

Silas and Marie Antoinette
Wests daughter, Marie Antoinette, met Hubert Heaton
Hitchcock when he came to Salt Lake City to help build
the railroads as a civil engineer. Hubert alter went to
work for Anaconda Copper Company which took him to
Chiquiquamata, Chili, where they lived a few years. Just
prior to the Stock Market Crash in 1929 they returned to
the states and settled in San Francisco where they raised
their family of four children. All four of their children
served in WWII. Their oldest served with the Marines as a
bomb detonator. He was listed as dead after Nagazaki,
Japan, was bombed. It was later discovered he was not
killed. This event had a profound impact on Hubert. His
other sons served in the Merchant Marines in the south
Pacific, another son, my father, served in the Air Force
with the Flying Tigers in China,and their daughter served
in the Navy. She was based in San Francisco.

My father, James West
Hitchcock, met my mother Carol Ann Hansell, when he was
thirteen years old. They lived on the same street and
grew up together going to the same schools and college in
San Francisco. He also attended University of Utah before
WWII broke out and he joined the Army Air Corps.

Following the war he went to
work for his uncle who was a building contractor in the
San Francisco area, mainly building housing, which was in
great demand following the war. Being in the reserves he
was recalled when the Korean War broke out and sent to
Greenland for a year. Following the Korean War he decided
to remain in the Air Force and become a career officer,
attaining the rank of Lt. Colonel. He retired in 1969. He
served in a missile squadron during the Cuban Missile
Crisis and later flew bombers out of Guam to Viet Nam. He
and his wife returned to the San Francisco area where
they lived until 1991 when his wifes health became
more than he could manage and they moved to Denver,
Colorado, to be near their oldest daughter. Carol died in
1993.
Jim remained in Colorado a few more years and then moved
to Simi Valley to live with his son where he presently
lives. For more on this family go to: